Using the four classical elements as his structure, Waldie delves into the complex essence of Los Angeles—a city of natural beauty and environmental precarity, of dreams pursued and illusions faded. In Elements of Los Angeles, Waldie has assembled a panorama of a city both tragic and intensely moving. With his signature clarity and compassion, he draws from history, personal memory, and the city’s cultural fabric to explore such moments as the forgotten legacy of the Hass avocado, the devastation of the St. Francis Dam collapse, the peculiar endurance contest that left a woman buried alive, and the comforting voice of Vin Scully echoing across the summer air.
An in-person presentation by D.J. Waldie, author, editor, cultural historian, memoirist, and translator